An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
binders, without reference to the size of the book, or the nature of the design to be
worked on it, is artificially given to the leather by a paumelle, or toothed wooden
instrument. Beside the morocco leathers, which are dyed with a single colour, there are
other kinds, which are variously mottled, marbled and otherwise decorated. The grain of
the marbled morocco, which covers some of the books of Maiolus, is filled in with gold:
and that used in covering some of the more simply bound books of De Thou, is
ornamented with patterns of an Eastern character; as on his copy of Phaedrus, Paris,
1617 [C. 19. c.], in the British Museum. There is a kind of coloured morocco, which is still
made at Valencia, in Spain; and which, having first been brought to this country by Sir
William Stirling-Maxwell, has since been frequently used by Mr. Roger de Coverly, the
binder. It is a thin leather, with a highly glazed surface, mottled with a great variety of
bright colors, which have a curious effect, owing to dried leaves and flowers having been
pressed upon the leather, while the colouring was still wet; a peculiarity, which is not
apparent, until the leather has been closely examined.
Mr. de Coverly has, also, colored some of his books in calf, in a manner very similar to
that, in which this Spanish morocco is colored. Marbled, mottled, and sprinkled, calf was
much in use during the last century: and this mode of decoration has continued to the
present day. It is produced by the application of various chemicals, after the book is
covered: but the calf of modern commerce is so liable to crack at the joints, that it should
not be used for fine bindings. The calf, however, which is found on books of the
sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, is often of great beauty in colour and texture;
and, in some cases, seems to possess extraordinary durability: indeed, it is sometimes
difficult to decide, whether the leather, which is used on some of the earlier bindings, is
calf, or whether it is morocco.
There is the same objection to the use of Russian leather, as to the use of calf: namely,
its tendency to crack at the joints. This leather, as its name implies, was originally
obtained from Russia, where it was made from the hides of young cattle,; it is now made
in other countries, the best sort coming from Austria. Genuine Russian leather is tanned
in willow bark j and its peculiar odor is due to an oil, obtained from the bark of the birch
tree, with which the leather is dressed, in the process of finishing. This leather was
introduced into England at the end of the last century j and was much used by Roger
Payne. Modern pig-skin, on the contrary, appears to be of a very durable nature, and
especially lends itself to be finished in blind tooling; it has not that pleasing colour, and
texture, which distinguishes the skins used by the binders of the sixteenth century.